Proxy Categories in Phrase Structure Theory and the Chinese VP

The present article discusses in detail the so-called verb-copying construction in Mandarin Chinese. Applying Nash & Rouveret's (1997, 2002) theory of proxy categories, we obtain an analysis which is completely different from the standard one (cf. Huang 1982) and which, as a consequence, proposes a new account of aspect in Chinese. The baconstruction is re-examined as well and ba is shown to be a higher (verbal) head rather than a preposition.

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